This invention relates to a process for the preparation of 2-acetyl-3-methyl-1,3-butadiene.
Hitherto it has only been possible to prepare this compound in accordance with a complicated multi-stage process (Izv. Akad. Nauk. SSSR 1962, 1267-75). The known process requires lithium acetylide and mercury oxide as reagents and only permits the preparation of small quantities. The product obtainable in this way is contaminated with trimethylfurane. The known process is unsuitable for large-scale industrial synthesis of 2-acetyl-3-methyl-1,3-butadiene ("acetylisoprene").